Consumer sues Sinopec

Li Fangping, a lawyer and rights activist has filed a lawsuit with a Beijing court, claiming the country’s largest oil refiner and fuel distributor, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), has abused its market dominance by profiteering. Li claimed that Sinopec had sold its product at an “unfairly high price” and said its behavior had contravened Section 17 of the anti-monopoly law. The section states that companies with market dominant positions are prohibited from selling products at unfairly high prices. Li is demanding that Sinopec return to him 13 yuan (US$1.89) out of the 181.99 yuan (US$26.58) he paid on November 29 for fuel bought from the North Second Ring Road at Sinopec’s Beijing branch. (December 4, 2008)